Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: January 18, 2014
Last Modified: January 12, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a nonverbal Transitive Inference Task similarly to the one described in Frank et al (2004).
Transitive Inference (TI) tasks assess relational reasoning. Specifically they measure people's ability to infer an unstated relationship btw. objects (e.g. A ? C) using learned knowledge of the relationship these objects have with a shared third object (e.g. B: A > B, B > C => transitive inference: A > B > C => A > C).
Frank, M.J., Seeberger, L.C. & O’Reilly. R.C. (2004). By Carrot or by Stick: Cognitive Reinforcement Learning in Parkinsonism. Science, 306, 1940-1943
8 minutes
Participants work through a learning and a test phase. During the learning phase participants get presented 4 overlapping pairs of symbols (AB, BC, CD, DE) and have to learn to pick the winning symbol of each pair (A > B > C > D > E). Throughout the learning phase participant are given positive and negative feedback. During the test phase, two novel pairs (AE and BD) are presented amongst the training pairs. No feedback is given during the testing phase.
Letter-Symbol-Assignment:
version A/B: fixed assignments
random: random assignments
The stimuli are 5 Hiragana characters presented in Frank et al (2004).
Their size and location can be easily controlled via section Editable Parameters.
To use a different set of images, simply replace the stimuli in script
transitiveinferencetask_stimuli_x_inc.iqjs
(or just name your new stimuli the same as the currently used ones)
The instructions are not the originals.
They can easily be edited in script transitiveinferencetask_instructions_inc.iqjs
File Name: transitiveinterferencetask_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| startDate | Date the session was run |
| startTime | Time the session was run |
| subjectId | Participant ID |
| groupId | Group number |
| sessionId | Session number |
| elapsedTime | Session duration in ms |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
| version | "A" or "B" (fixed assignments) or "Random" |
| block.learningPhase.totalCount | How many learning phases participants went through |
| percAABTraining -percDDETraining | Percent correct for the different pairings during the last training session |
| percAABTest-percDDETest | Percent correct for the known pairings during test |
| percAAE -percBBD | Percent correct for the novel pairings during test |
File Name: transitiveinterferencetask_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| blockcode | The name the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| blocknum | The number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialcode | The name of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialnum | The number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run even those that do not store data to the data file. |
| version | "A" or "B" (fixed assignments) or "Random" |
| phase | 1 = learning; 2 = test |
| pair | Current pair of symbols (e.g. "AB") |
| stimulusitem.1-stimulusitem.2 | The presented stimuli in order of trial presentation does not need to correspond to spatial presentation of stimuli |
| response | The participant's response (scancode of response button) 30 = A 38 = L |
| selectedLetter | The selected letter |
| winLetter | Contains the winning letter during learning |
| correct | The correctness of the response (1 = correct; 0 = error) |
| latency | The response latency in ms; measured from onset of stims |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design |
||
| trialNumberLearning | The number of trials in a learning session | 80 |
| trialNumberTest | The number of trials in the test session | 120 |
| minAAB | Minimum proportion of winning symbol-selections (A) in pairs AB that have to be met in the current learning block | 0.6 |
| minBBC | Minimum proportion of winning symbol-selections (B) in pairs BC that have to be met in the current learning block | 0.6 |
| minCCD | Minimum proportion of winning symbol-selections (C) in pairs CD that have to be met in the current learning block | 0.6 |
| minDDE | Minimum proportion of winning symbol-selections (D) in pairs DE that have to be met in the current learning block | 0.6 |
Position And Sizing Parameters |
||
| xRight | Horizontal coordinate of the right symbol in screen percentages | 65% |
| xLeft | Horizontal coordinate of the left symbol in screen percentages | 35% |
| symbolHeight | The height of the symbol image in screen height percentages | 40% |
Timing Parameters |
||
| feedbackDuration | The duration of the feedback stimuli in ms | 1000 |
Response Keys |
||
| responseKeyLeft | The response key for symbol on the left (on a QWERTY keyboard) | "A" |
| responseKeyRight | The response key for symbol on the right (on a QWERTY keyboard) | "L" |